Reader-contributed photo from a large winter snowstorm, March 8
Photo: Contributed

Reader-contributed photo from a large winter snowstorm, March 8

Reader-contributed photo from a large winter snowstorm, March 8
Photo: Contributed

Reader-contributed photo from a large winter snowstorm, March 8

Tim Ludlum clears snow from his car on Richland Road during the snow storm that hit Greenwich, Friday morning, March 8, 2013. Ludlum said the snow and digging out from it, caused him to go into work late.
Photo: Bob Luckey

A plow clears Hamilton Avenue in Chickahominy during the snow storm...

A snow-covered Western Middle School sign and campus during the snow storm that hit Greenwich, Friday morning, March 8, 2013. The Greenwich public schools were closed due to the storm.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Idle snow-covered school buses in the bus yard off Laddins Rock Road, Old Greenwich, during the snow storm that hit the area, Friday, March 8, 2013. Both Stamford and Greenwich public schools were closed due to the weather.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Milo, a yellow lab belonging to the Vincent family, during the snow...

Aaliya Einsmann, 3, of Stamford, gets carried up a small hill on her sled by her grandparents Yuji, left, and Michun Yokobori, also of Stamford, while sledding at Bruce Park in Greenwich, Friday, March 8, 2013.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Aaliya Einsmann, 3, of Stamford, gets carried up a small hill on her sled by her grandparents Yuji, left, and Michun Yokobori, also of Stamford, while sledding at Bruce Park in Greenwich, Friday, March 8, 2013.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Aaliya Einsmann, 3, of Stamford, gets carried up a small hill on her sled by her grandparents Yuji, left, and Michun Yokobori, also of Stamford, while sledding at Bruce Park in Greenwich, Friday, March 8, 2013.
Photo: Bob Luckey

At center, Katia Vincent, 4, of Greenwich, screams as she leads the way down a small hill while sledding with her mother, Sasha Vincent, and family dog, Milo, during the snow storm in Bruce Park, Greenwich, Friday afternoon, March 8, 2013.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Barbara Oster, uses two shovels to help her walk through the thick snow at her mother's home in Newtown after an overnight snowfall, Friday, March 8, 2013. "I wasn't prepared," says, Oster, of the deeper-than-expected snow.
Photo: Carol Kaliff

Barbara Oster, uses two shovels to help her walk through the thick snow at her mother's home in Newtown after an overnight snowfall, Friday, March 8, 2013. "I wasn't prepared," says, Oster, of the deeper-than-expected snow.
Photo: Carol Kaliff

More Information

Bridgeport's worst winters on recordThe National Weather Service defines Oct. 1 to April 30 as the annual "snowfall season" and Bridgeport has seen several tough ones in the last 10 years.1) 1995-96 - 75.72) 2002-3 - 643) 2010-11 - 62.64) 1966-67 - 61.65) 2012-13 - 61.3Source: National Weather Service

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By the time the sun showed its face in Bridgeport late Friday, the city had seen its fifth worst winter in recorded history.

The nine inches of sloppy, wet snow that slicked roads throughout the city on Friday bumped total snowfall up to 61.3 inches since Oct. 1.

But shovellers resting yet another sore back can lay the bulk of the blame on the Feb. 8-9 blizzard that buried Bridgeport under 30 inches of snow and left the city crippled.

If not for that storm, the total snowfall for the season would have only been 31.3 inches, 7.8 inches higher than city's normal 23.5 inches, according to data compiled by the National Weather Service.

"Every couple of years here, we get one or two of those storms that produce a good amount of snow," said Lauren Nash, a meteorologist with NWS.

But it's not just the storms that have been particularly strong in recent years; in the last decade Bridgeport has now seen three of its worst winters on record.

While the 75.7 inches dropped on the city during the winter of 1995-96 still leads by nearly a foot, the first and second runners-up came in 2002-03 and 2010-11, respectively, and this year's surpassed the snowy season of 2004-05 to take the fifth spot.

The blame for that barrage belongs to the bath water temperatures the Atlantic Ocean has maintained over the last decade or so, said Andy Mussoline, a meteorologist with Accuweather.com.

With the Atlantic warmed by a degree or two, it creates what Mussoline called a "blocking pattern" in the air which stalls storms over the Northeast and lets them linger over the area, spewing snow all the while.

That is why this week's storm spent a few hours languishing off the coast Thursday before coming ashore around 10 p.m.

"Exactly. The storm kind of comes up and is able to just linger across New England," Mussoline said.

Ever the gracious host, the Atlantic also offers winter storms all the snow they might care to spread around. The ocean's warmer temperature pushes more precipitation into the air for a storm to leave frozen in its wake.